Sexual Ethics

A Theological Introduction

Todd A. Salzman

Publication Year: 2012

Two principles capture the essence of the Catholic tradition on sexual ethics: that each and every marriage act must remain open to the transmission of life, and that any human genital act must occur within the framework of marriage. In the Catholic tradition, moral sexual activity is institutionalized within the confines of marriage and procreation, and sexual morality is marital morality.

But theologians Todd Salzman and Michael Lawler contend that there is a disconnect between many of the Church's absolute sexual norms and other theological and intellectual developments explicitly recognized and endorsed in the Catholic tradition, especially since the Second Vatican Council. These developments include the shift from a primary static worldview to a historically conscious worldview, one that recognizes reality as dynamic, evolving, changing, and particular. By employing such a historically conscious worldview, alternative claims about the moral legitimacy of controversial topics such as contraception, artificial reproduction, and homosexual marriage can faithfully emerge within a Catholic context. Convinced of the central role that love, desire, and fertility play in a human life, and also in the life of Christian discipleship, the authors propose an understanding of sexuality that leads to the enhancement of human sexual relationships and flourishing.

This comprehensive introduction to Catholic sexual ethics -- complete with thought-provoking study questions at the end of each chapter -- will be sure to stimulate dialogue about sexual morality between Catholic laity, theologians, and the hierarchy. Anyone seeking a credible and informed Catholic sexual ethic will welcome this potentially revolutionary book.

Title Page, Copyright Page

Contents

Abbreviations for Sources

Prologue

Our earlier book, The Sexual Person: Toward a Renewed Catholic
Anthropology, was highly acclaimed by its academic critics and
was selected by the Catholic Press Association as the best theological
book of 2009. That book, however, was...

CHAPTER 1. Sexual Morality in the Catholic Tradition: A Brief History

Human sexual activity and the sexual ethics that seeks to order it are
both sociohistorical realities and are, therefore, subject to historicity.
Before we embark on a presentation of contemporary Catholic sexual
anthropology and ethics, therefore, it...

Theologians who espouse the theology articulated in Gaudium et
spes find in it a foundational principle for judging all human activity,
including human sexual activity: the principle of the human person
adequately considered. A reasonable...

CHAPTER 3. Marital Morality

In the previous chapter we advanced a theoretical foundational principle
for making judgments about the morality of sexual actions. That
principle was articulated as follows: Sexual actions within marriage by
which a couple is united intimately and...

CHAPTER 4. Cohabitation and the Process of Marrying

Emmanuel Ntakarutimana expresses the Central African experience
of marrying in the following words. “Where Western tradition presents
marriage as a point in time at which consent is exchanged between
the couple in front of witnesses approved...

CHAPTER 5. Homosexuality

One sexual issue is today tearing the Christian churches apart. It is
the issue of homosexuality. In this chapter we consider this issue
in the context of scripture and the Catholic moral tradition interpreted
in contemporary historical context. Our...

CHAPTER 6. Artificial Reproductive Technologies

In the 1950s, the marketing of effective oral contraceptives made it possible
to have sexual intercourse without reproduction; in the 1980s,
the marketing of artificial reproductive technologies (ARTs) made it
possible to reproduce without having sexual intercourse. The Catholic
Magisterium argues against the morality...

Epilogue

Throughout this book, we argue that Catholic sexual morality is
institutionalized within the confines of marriage and procreation,
and we examine the foundations of two principles that articulate the
essence of that Catholic morality. The...

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